Miku Restaurant Brings Aburi Style Sushi to Toronto

Miku Restaurant Brings Aburi Style Sushi to Toronto
Last Monday, November 9, I was invited to the grand opening and media tasting of the new Miku Restaurant in Toronto, located at 105-10 Bay Street. It was a delightful dining experience.

Miku‘s Corporate Executive Chef, Kazuya Matsuoka, prepared a special canapé menu highlighting Miku’s “Aburi”-style sushi and contemporary vision of Japanese cuisine. Aburi means blow-torched sushi and Miku was the first to bring this style of sushi to Canada.

Miku’s Coal Harbour Platter for two

Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi

Miku Restaurant offers a wide assortment of sushi, sashimi and maki sushi, along with a late night menu. It also has a special Kaiseki menu, an Aburi multi-coursed menu featuring seasonal ingredients of the chef’s choice. The Kaiseki menu offers three options; Shokai (a four-course meal), Miku (a five-course meal) and Aburi, which promises to be a unique experience and requires 72 hours notice in advance.

Miku Restaurant is spacious and bright. The space is designed by Ibi Takahiro and seats up to 170 people. It has two event rooms with painted murals by Japanese artist Hideki Kimura.

For those that are not familiar with Miku Restaurants, they originated in Vancouver and introduced the Aburi Style creations that Miku is renowned for. Six years ago, Chef Seigo Nakamura was the first to bring the Aburi “flame-seared” technique to Canada’s sushi scene with his first aburi-style restaurant opening in Vancouver city’s Coal Harbour area. The aburi technique includes using a blowtorch and Japanese binchotan charcoal to lightly sear the sushi with a special sauce, leaving the dish with a smoky texture.

the “aburi” technique

The canapé menu of the night featured:

Red Wave Roll prepared with crab and avocado, wrapped in red tuna with masatake sauce.
Miku Roll made with uni, salmon and crab, rolled in tobiko with a “Miku” sauce.
Garden Roll which features kaiware sprouted daikon, ume shari, kale coulis and seasonal vegetables on soy paper.
Ebi Fritters, which are herb-beer battered white tiger prawns prepred with sweet chili aioli, chili powder, and soy balsamic reduction.
Oysters on the Half Shell that are selected daily and served with kabosu mignonette.
Pork Belly with Seared Sweetbreads complemented with sweet miso balsamic reduction, petit shiso leaf, Japanese karashi mustard, and roasted grapes.
Jatori Chicken Nanban drizzled with sweet and sour soy and house made tartar sauce.
Aburi Beef Carpaccio with baby greens, organic shoyu egg, Asian pear, edible flowers all wrapped in a piece of sterling silver AAA short rib and served with wasabi aioli and jalapeño ponzu.
Miku‘s signature Salmon Oshi Sushi with pressed BC wild sockeye salmon, jalapeño and Miku sauce
Green Tea Opera made with green tea génoise, dark chocolate ganache, matcha buttercream, azuki bean cream, and hazelnut water.

Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi

Aburi Beef Carpaccio

For me, the Miku Roll, Ebi Fritters, Pork Belly and Oyster on the Half Shelf were outstanding.

Miku Restaurant also has a wide assortment of cocktails created by bar manager Stephen Whiteside to compliment these dishes.

The stand out for me was the Miyazaki #2, consisting of Havana Club 7R, ginger liqueur, mango purée, basil and citrus foam with a lemon grass aroma. It is definitely worth a try!

Let’s not forget that Miku also features hundreds of sakes as well.

For dessert, Miku has an assortment of pastries prepare by Chef Aiko Uchigoshi, which features a unique blend of French and Japanese influences, like the Green Tea Opera dessert.

Miku Restaurant is a welcome delight for those foodies looking to indulge in an innovative take on Japanese cuisine!

Nutrigreens farm tofu salad

Pickled Market Vegetables

Sashimi Platter

Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi

Fresh fish

(photos by T&T)

Miku Restaurant Brings Aburi Style Sushi to Toronto – Miku Toronto Media Tasting & Review